Trapezoid Neck Profile officially changes status to Patent Applied For as of today (John Vereb, patent attorney).
What a fascinating and arduous process this has been. In early December of last year, after publishing the initial article about the new profile and actually playing Orchid, realization set in I had stumbled upon something both new and useful.
Then Monster played the bass on video, demonstrating the new profile's capabilities far more eloquently than I ever could. Confirmation also began to arrive as a continuous stream of emails from folks who wanted to build an instrument for themselves, using the profile. I decided, with the growing level of interest, it was time to seek a patent.
For a sole proprietorship like me a patent is a significant undertaking: time and expense. Many, many hours of research, writing and drawing are involved to both evaluate prior art (other inventors' related designs) and to predict effectively how future inventors will eventually respond to your own design. A game of hypothetical mental chess.
Your teammate in this "game" is a patent attorney who is highly skilled and well paid — $500/hour — for his or her efforts. In my opinion, well worth the money, due to the complexities involved.
So what happens next?
The purpose of a patent is to protect intellectual property (an idea) so that the inventor can control who is allowed to use the technology. Due to economies of scale the logical consequence is to seek a licensing agreement with a major manufacturer, who then pays the inventor a profit percentage for use of the idea. The time and financial risk of acquiring the patent is recouped through the licensing process.
Reward for risk.
How will this patent process affect you — my readers — who just want to build an instrument for yourself? Or fellow luthiers, who might only build a few instruments per year? So many of you have graciously contacted me and are waiting patiently for permission to use this technology: Russia, UK, Canada, USA.
First, I want to thank you for your patience with me through this process. It's been quite a learning experience for me. Slow, tedious, but necessary.
Second, I will be making an announcement in about a month or so that might please you very much. Hang out a little while longer. It will be worth the wait.
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